Spectre B. 02

A/N - Australian / British standard English. There is a good chance of reading the following: lots of profanity, characters drinking, typos, and bad grammar at times.

Proofreading and editing suggestions provided by OhDave1. Any mistakes are still mine.

Comments are appreciated as always.

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*****

Shepard helps Jack confront her past.

*****

Things were quiet between certain members of my squad on our way to Pragia. Georgia was doing her best to remain friendly with Jack, but now that Jack was living with visions of what she'd endured on Pragia, all she saw on Georgia's uniform was the symbol. Georgia understood, but I could see she was hurt by Jack's attitude. They had been getting along okay before Jack's request.

As for Miranda, she was just avoiding Jack at all costs. Miranda was still loyal to Cerberus, to a point, but although she had gathered the information that Jack had requested, she hadn't really read any of it herself. I think it was a case of not knowing so she could continue to live in ignorance. We'd talked about a few of the things that had been discovered while I was gone. She did try to apply reasoning and excuses though she did struggle with a couple of things.

Miranda wasn't involved considering she wasn't a member of Cerberus during whatever Jack endured, and didn't know anything about the operations that I'd found and sent up the chain of command a couple of years ago. I didn't blame her nor anyone on the ship, but I did suggest that perhaps the Illusive Man believed he was helping humanity though wasn't always going about it in the best of ways. As Ashley had told me on Horizon, the path to hell was paved with the best of best intentions.

We stopped briefly in Omega during the journey to the Nubian Expanse cluster, with Pragia located in the Dakka system. Mordin had contacts on the space station that could help us obtain what we wanted. It wasn't a nuke, I didn't want a repeat of Virmine, but it was going to be the sort of bomb that would level a massive area. If Jack wanted to leave a crater, that's what she was going to get.

Things were tense in the last couple of hours before we would arrive in orbit. Jack was keeping to herself though even in the mess, I could almost feel her pacing below my feet. There was endless anger and rage, but I also knew she was scared to death. She hadn't gone into great detail about what happened to her. I knew that would come later.

When the

Normandy

finally arrived, I gathered the team near the shuttle. I didn't have to give too many orders as everyone was now aware of why we were there. As for Jack, she was fidgeting more than usual. If I didn't know that it was because she was nervous, many would have thought she was tweaking from drug use. As everyone else boarded, I took her hand and pulled her closer.

"Can you handle this?" I asked.

She recognised the seriousness in my tone. I needed her head in the game. "Yes, Shepard," she replied.

"Good. Remember that we're all here to help. Even those who you believe hate you."

"I don't think they hate me," she replied, an answer which surprised me, "We don't like each other because, you know, they're Cerberus and who they work for fucked me up."

"Fair enough. Just take a few deep breaths, control those emotions while we're down there. Whatever the case, we're going to destroy the place. Okay?"

She nodded firmly and I let her hand go. The shuttle ride was quiet and a little tense between a couple of people. Jack looked out the window as we entered the atmosphere. The weather matched her mood. Dark clouds. Thunderstorms. Driving rain. As we approached the facility, EDI reported in that she was picking up numerous thermal signatures inside the facility. She added the facility didn't appear to be in working order.

"Any idea on who would be here?" I asked Miranda.

"Scavengers, maybe? From everything that I read up about this place, it was isolated for a reason. Anything done here was carried out in secret."

"To the orders of your fucking Illusive Man," Jack growled. I immediately placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her relax at my touch. She looked up into my eyes and I could see her nerves. "Shepard..."

"It's okay, Jack. I'm here. We're all here. You'll be fine."

Kasumi was sitting on her other side and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Tali didn't know Jack at all but even she offered words of support. I could see Jack appreciated the sentiment. She knew that she was prickly at best, and not easy to deal with at the best of times. Most of my squad who had been on the ship since she turned up were aware and learned how to deal with her.

All was quiet except for the rain landing on the landing zone and thunder in the distance. The wind wasn't too strong though it whipped through our squad as we made our way down the stairs and into the facility itself. The first room was full of crates, and I didn't need to imagine what they were for. Jack's memories were flooding back fast, assuming that she'd likely arrived in one of those very crates.

There was still power and just like Haestrom, I was hopeful that we would find a treasure trove of information. A nearby terminal was working, and we listened into the journal entry.

"The Illusive Man requested operation logs again. He's getting suspicious. When we get results, he won't care what we did. But if he knew... He won't find out."

I glanced at Miranda, who wisely kept her thoughts to herself. Jack glowered at nearly everyone. The entry didn't really tell us anything in concrete terms, just that the facility was doing something that might have pissed him off. The next room jogged Jack's memories again, telling us about how she'd fought her way into it, and the last guard that she killed before she made it to freedom.

The fact we hadn't run into anyone had me thinking the report EDI had given us may have been due to distorted sensors. We remained vigilant, sweeping each corner and everyone was alert. Each little noise was investigated though it was clear the place was nothing but a ruin.

We approached what looked like an octagon. Asking Jack if that's what it was, she nodded and made a gesture. Her eyes went blank, and I had a feeling she was reliving a memory. She explained that she was brought there to fight other kids. It was the only time she was ever allowed out of her cell, and she loved to fight. It was the only time she felt free while kept prisoner. What we all learned is that Jack was conditioned to fight. Filled with drugs, punished if she hesitated. It was either her or the others. She made the same choice each time.

We found another console not far away that still had power. I turned it on, wondering if we would get any information about what happened. It was obvious that things had collapsed either during or after Jack's escape.

"Security Officer Zemkl, Teltin facility. The subjects are out of their cells! They're tearing the place up! Subject Zero is going to get loose. I need permission to terminate. I repeat, permission to terminate."

"All subjects beside Zero are expendable. Keep Jack alive!"

"Understood. I..."

Jack stepped forward and shut off the console. It was obvious she was confused as she insisted that she started the riot after her guards disappeared and she broke out of her cell. When I suggested that perhaps her escape was a product of a larger problem, she disagreed, stating that everyone was attacking her once she was out of her cell.

We moved on and stumbled upon the bodies of dead varren. The kills were not fresh, but it was a sign that we were not alone. Everyone readied themselves for a fight and we soon had one as we carefully approached the next room. It was filled with krogan and vorcha, the red uniforms of the krogan suggesting they were Blood Pack.

"Spirits... What are they doing here?" Garrus asked. He and Amelie were armed with assault rifles and joined me at the front. No need for snipers in the confines of a building.

It was a short, sharp fight. We kept the krogan at bay due to superior firepower. Grunt roared and charged, getting up and close and personal, his shotgun blasting away. We burned the varren and those of my colleagues with biotics had fun flinging them about.

When we opened the door to what was definitely a morgue, even Miranda had to suggest that a lot of children had died due to the experiments. I met her eyes, and she immediately looked away. As for Georgia, her face spoke volumes. She was angry... at Cerberus.

We moved on and ran into more krogan and vorcha. It was the same tactics to deal with them, stopping them whenever a krogan decided to charge. The vorcha had no tactics, barely knew what the word 'cover' meant. It left them as easy pickings most of the time. I remembered that on Omega they used sheer weight of numbers to overwhelm if possible.

"I feel like... I'm pissed off. I'm a dangerous bitch," Jack stated before her voice softened, "But then I'm a little girl again..." She paused and cleared her throat, anger flowing again. "Fuck... It's fucking complicated, okay? Let's just find my room, get the bomb in there, and blow this fucking place up."

The fact that the facility was so extensive wasn't a real surprise. It left me wondering what else they were doing there in addition to the experiments being done on Jack. And I was wondering how informed the Illusive Man was. I doubt the place would have been built without his signature, and surely those running the place wouldn't have been given the funding without some sort of oversight from the boss.

I didn't miss that Jack fought with an anger that I hadn't seen before... Except for maybe when we'd rescued her from prison. She let the anger flow though kept with it enough to temper it, not doing anything stupid and not putting any of her companions at risk. I only had to pull her up a couple of times when she looked ready to charge without a care in the world.

Jack continued to explain things that she remembered the deeper into the facility we moved. We eventually walked into a large area that had trees and looked like some sort of area where the other kids might have been allowed to have a little fun. Jack gestured to a mirror where we could all see our reflections, stating that it was two-way and that her room had been on the other side. She could see out from her room.

"How old were you, Jack? When you arrived here?" Georgia asked.

"I can't really remember... I was young. Maybe five or six."

"Do you remember..." Georgia stopped and sighed. "Your parents. Do you remember them?"

"No. I'm surprised that I even remember what happened to me here. Think you'd remember what happened twenty years ago after being tortured and abused day after day, week after week, for years on end?"

After dealing with another group of krogan and vorcha, wondering just what the hell they were doing at the facility, we found another working console. The hologram figure that appeared seemed to be wearing the garb of a scientist. Jack didn't seem to recognise whoever it was.

"Entry One-Zero-Five-Four, Teltin facility. The latest iteration of PergNim went poorly. Subjects One, Four and Six died. No biotic change among the survivors. We lowered core temperatures of surviving subjects, but no biotically beneficial reactions occurred. As a side effect, all subjects died. So we'll not try that on Zero. I hope our supply of biotic potential subjects holds up. We are going through them fast."

The silence that followed after I turned off the console was deafening. It was started so callously, so objectively. It was obvious that they were talking about... children being experimented on and then dying because of it. If the Illusive Man had even an inkling, did he authorise this or was he truly blind to what was happening in his name?

Georgia walked away and stood in a corner. I noticed her shoulders shaking for a few seconds. What made me almost grin was Tali walking over and offering a comforting hand on her shoulder. As for Miranda, she couldn't meet the eyes of anyone around us. I eventually jerked my head so we could have a quiet word.

"Miranda, I know you had nothing to do with this. But could your boss really have not known anything about this?" I asked quietly.

Miranda glanced around at anywhere except my eyes. "I don't know, Shepard. I really don't know. Part of me wants to believe this place went rogue, that he would never justify anything like this. He wants to improve humanity, but something like this? All those children?"

I could see Jack growing increasingly agitated. "I know you want to believe the best, Miranda. I understand. But do you now see why Jack..." That's when she met my eyes and nodded. "Okay. I'll try and keep calm. Just don't say anything to wind her up. I don't particularly want to break up a fight between you two."

Jack was pacing about and was as angry as I'd ever seen her. But when her eyes met mine, the turmoil behind them nearly broke my heart. One thing I'd become since my return was more empathetic to at least some other people. I knew it was because I'd been given a second chance. And in Jack, I saw myself in many regards. Then her eyes cleared in an instant and the anger was visceral.

"I was tougher than them. That's why I survived this place, Shepard," she growled, "I made it out because I was the meanest bitch possible. I had the power."

We fought on, Jack now on point next to me as I knew she was finding catharsis in fighting and killing again in this facility. Part of me assumed that she was reliving memories while we were fighting, perhaps imagining that she was killing the guards and scientists who had held her prisoner for so many years. We still had no real idea why the krogan and vorcha were there except that there had to be someone leading the expedition.

I heard whispered conversations during the silent moments. Anyone who had joined up had done so either due to loyalty to me or they were being paid a big fat cheque by Cerberus. But that money was now tainted in their eyes. I didn't think anyone would up sticks and leave my squad because of this, but I had a feeling that the opinion of Cerberus would now be lowered in the eyes of nearly everyone. Whenever I looked at Georgia, the guilt in her eyes was evident. She was a believer, but I knew she'd always been cautious and tempered her belief in everything.

Another console and I almost dreaded what we would hear next.

"It's all fallen to pieces. The subjects are rampaging, and Zero is loose. We're shutting Teltin down. What a disaster. We'll infiltrate and piggyback onto the Alliance's Ascension program. Hopefully that will... Who are...? Zero! Wait!"

"I remember that fucker," Jack murmured, "I remember him well. He was one of those that would tie me down and experiment on me. Fill me with all sorts of shit. I don't remember most of it, but I remember faces." She paused and looked concerned. "Shepard, the Ascension program. What is that?"

"An Alliance-funded school for gifted kids. Biotics mostly but also kids who are positively brilliant in other fields of study."

"Could it be... Do they torture kids there, Shepard?"

I placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Jack, have you ever read about Jump Zero? BAaT and all the nonsense that went on there?"

"Never heard of it."

"It wasn't anything like you had to endure, but conditions were rough. It collapsed, just like what happened here. The Ascension program is better. It's based at the Grissom Academy, a space station in orbit around Elysium. They do good things there. The kids are looked after, cared for, given everything they need to become powerful biotics and functional members of society. Humans are still wary of biotics because of their power. The kids are guided on how to use their powers safely. If Cerberus is there, they have absolutely no influence."

Jack looked away and sighed. "Sounds like the sort of place I could have done with when I was a kid," she muttered, "Shepard... How I remember things... What we've found so far... It's confusing. What happened on that day..."

"You were a kid. A lot of shit was going on. You wouldn't have had a clear picture of what was going on during your time here. They kept you isolated for a reason. To be honest, I reckon the other kids feared you. They saw the power you were given. As for the scientists, you were a guinea pig. But a powerful one. In their eyes, you were special but also... Well... I guess humanity doesn't have a wonderful track record."

We continued to move forward as Jack knew the way to her cell from memory. Things remained rather quiet until we walked into a large room to be faced by a number of krogan and vorcha. To my surprise, none of them opened fire on us immediately. A krogan was dressed in dark red armour and given his stature, I had a feeling he was someone in charge. I was sort of right as he opened a comm channel to someone else by the name of Aresh. Apparently, the Blood Pack was there for salvage. Unfortunately for them, there was little to be found.

The krogan answered to whatever he was told, stating he was going to kill us. I started to laugh. Grunt cocked his shotgun and beckoned them on. I could have asked questions, but I figured what was the point? There's little point conversing to most krogan or vorcha. Just kill them and get on with your day.

The big krogan was a bitch to take down. His armour was incredibly thick. Even incendiary ammo worked though we had to burn our way through it slowly. The vorcha dropped dead quickly, but half a dozen krogan is quite the opposition, even when I was in a group of heavily armed bastards. Thankfully, the biotically gifted of my squad kept them back so the rest of us could riddle them with bullets.

When the last krogan dropped dead, we approached the door to Jack's cell carefully. I led the way inside with Jack to be greeted by an empty room. I called out for Aresh. He was hidden inside a wardrobe, carefully stepping out of it with his hands raised. He visibly gulped at the weapons trained on him though I gestured for everyone to lower theirs.

"Who the fuck are you?" Jack asked, her weapons remaining raised and trained on him.

"My name is Aresh and you're breaking into my home." His eyes then stared directly at her. "And I know you, Subject Zero. So many years have passed, and I thought that I was the only survivor."

"My name is Jack," she replied through gritted teeth, "How the fuck do you know me?"

He actually smiled despite the gun pointed at his face. "We all knew your face, Jack. They inflicted horrors on us so their experiments wouldn't kill you. You were the question, and I'm still looking for the answer."

Jack's hand was shaking, and I knew she wanted to pull the trigger. "Why are you here?" I had to ask. That was the crux of the matter.

"I tried to forget this place. But a place like this... It doesn't forget you. It follows you. I hired all those mercenaries and came back almost a solar year ago. We're rebuilding it, piece by piece. I'm going to find out what they knew. How to unlock true biotic potential in humans. I'm restarting the Teltin facility." He paused and looked out the two-way window and raised his hands to the ceiling. "It will be beautiful."

"He's fucking insane," Miranda whispered from behind me.

"Like hell this place operates again," Georgia growled.

"I want a hole in the ground, yet this piece of shit wants to justify what happened here?"

"It's obvious we're blowing this place up, but there's still him," I said.

"Just leave me here. This is where I belong," Aresh stated.

Jack walked towards him and raised her pistol. I thought she was going to shoot him at first. A whip of her pistol at his temple put him down to his knees, Jack aiming the pistol at the back of his head. The utter rage flowing through her meant that she simply couldn't keep her hand still. I could feel everyone watching me, what I would do.